What If Belonging Is The Best Medicine For Veterans

A lot of veteran suicide prevention talk gets complicated fast. This conversation stays refreshingly direct: isolation kills, connection protects, and a well-run event can be the difference between shutting down and showing up. I’m Larry Zilliox, and I’m joined by Kimberly Jewell Pond, Operational Support Coordinator and Lead Coordinator for the Washington, DC chapter of Irreverent Warriors, to break down how a “simple hike” becomes something much bigger for veteran mental health.

Kimberly shares her path from 17 years in the Alaska Air National Guard to the hard reality of civilian transition, where the bonds you rely on in uniform don’t automatically exist on the other side. We talk about the moment she stumbled into Irreverent Warriors through a Halloween hike, and why being surrounded by veterans again felt like finding family after years of drifting. From there, she explains how IW events are designed to make connection unavoidable in the best way: talk to the person next to you, bring first-timers into the fold, and leave with a real buddy system.

We also get into the practical details people want before they show up: hikes run about 5 to 13 miles at an approachable pace, registration matters for insurance and planning, and chapters host events year-round. We dig into impact, including the reported stat that 57% of veterans say suicidal ideation fully stopped or significantly improved after attending an IW event, and why women veterans show up in such strong numbers when the environment is safe and supportive. Kimberly also explains how partnering with the Vet Center can help veterans understand VA benefits and claims, plus what IW wants to build next with healing modalities like cold plunging, equine therapy, cooking, and retreats.

If you’re a veteran looking for your people, or someone who wants a real-world way to fight veteran isolation, listen now, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more veterans can find the next hike.

Transcript

Welcome And Mission Overview

Larry Zilliox 0:14

Good morning. I'm your host, Larry Zilliaks, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run. This week our guest is Kimberly Jewell Pond. She's the operational support coordinator and lead coordinator for the Washington, D.C. chapter of Irreverent Warriors. And if you don't know about this organization, it is really a great, very simple philosophy, but really great, great organization. They work to eliminate veteran suicide and eliminate uh the uh isolation that veterans feel. And they do that by getting veterans to go out to events. Uh really try I think what veterans find is that this group becomes their tribe again, which they often miss uh dearly. But Kimberly, welcome to the podcast.

Life In The Alaska Guard

Kimberly Jewel Pond 1:11

Thank you for having me.

Larry Zilliox 1:12

Tell us a little bit about your prior service, uh uh Air National Guard Alaska for 17 years. Uh tell us a little bit about your service and and um what it's like flying around Alaska.

Kimberly Jewel Pond 1:27

Um, so my service 17 years um in the Alaska Air National Guard. Um I was one of the lucky that got to be full-time guard for 17 years. So that, you know, it's essentially like active duty, but you don't have to move. I started out originally in logistics and then moved over to being an HH 60 crew chief for the combat rescue unit up in Alaska. It was a lot of fun. It was challenging, but it was a lot of fun, especially because I did the opportunity to fly around a little bit um and travel. Um, we deployed with active duty. Um, we had a stateside mission when we weren't deployed. So it just kept us hopping in on our toes.

Larry Zilliox 2:12

Yes. And uh you're talking about working in what can be formidable austere environment. Had you ever thought about or wished you'd maybe gone with another guard unit somewhere or gone active duty and gotten to a warmer climate?

The Hardest Part Of Leaving

Kimberly Jewel Pond 2:30

No, because I was born and raised in Alaska, which was part of why I joined the guard, is because I am very partial to Alaska. It's a very beautiful country. I wanted to serve my country without having to necessarily leave home, unless, you know, obviously it was a deployment or going for training and everything, because we did train with active duty. Um, and I did get to do a fair amount of travel as well.

Larry Zilliox 2:57

You got out after 17 years. Um what was the transition like for you?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 3:04

It was a tough transition, um, going from the military side to the civilian side a lot because nobody prepares you for what it's going to be like. Because, you know, when you go from a military lifestyle where the people that you work with, they become your very close friends and family. You fill up those bonds because you guys go through so much together, where it's deployments, it's, you know, families being created, just everything. You train together, you play together, you know, it's it becomes your family. And it's that way because when you deploy, you have to know and trust that everybody's got your back. When you transition out of the military, being in like corporate society, it's not like that. You know, I mean, you you will make friends and you may bond with people, but it's not the same bond. And a lot of it is because they just don't understand the lifestyle that you're coming from, but it's also not the lifestyle on the other side of the fence.

Larry Zilliox 4:09

That's for sure.

Kimberly Jewel Pond 4:11

Um, so that's what makes it difficult.

Larry Zilliox 4:13

How did you come across um well, how did you come from Alaska to come down here to the the DMV?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 4:23

I once I got out, um, my daughter's dad was actually stationed at the Pentagon. So that's what brought me down here. And then because we co-parent, I decided to stay.

A Move To The DMV

Larry Zilliox 4:36

You you got down here. How did you get involved with the Irreverent Warriors?

The Halloween Hike That Hooked

Kimberly Jewel Pond 4:41

So it took me a few years um before I found Irreverent Warriors. I think it was 2019. I had one of my friends that I play softball with. She's a Marine. She called me one day just out of the balloon. She said, Hey, I'm going to do this. It's a Halloween hike down in Richmond. Let's you want to go with me? I was like, sure, I will go. Didn't know what I was getting into. She didn't tell me what organization or what it was about. She just said it was a Halloween hike. And since Halloween's my holiday, um, I was for it. We collaborated on, you know, dressing up. She says, Well, you know, I'm going patriotic. So I dressed up as Superwoman and, you know, showed up, you know, found out about your Robert Warriors organization, realized I was amidst probably more veterans than I had ever been around since I'd been out of the military. And we hiked through Richmond. And it was just amazing. It was like being with family again that I hadn't been with in quite a long, quite a few years. So that's how I got introduced. And then I started looking for different activities within um IW. Of course, COVID hit. Um, so that kind of mitigated some of our activities. But then when we started coming out of COVID, we started having our hikes again. So I started doing my hikes in, you know, I did one in Harper's Ferry, did one in DC. And then at that point, I wanted to work with the organization. I wanted to volunteer my time because I knew what it was doing for me. It pulled me out of isolation because I had been in isolation myself because I didn't, I couldn't find the same group or the same type of people that I had always known in the military. I just couldn't connect with other people in that manner. And it was something that I really desired. And um, I saw what it was doing for other people. So I decided I wanted to become part of the organization. So I joined as a volunteer on the hike team for DC, which then rolled into me running the DC community and then also working on a national level. Well, so here I am today.

Larry Zilliox 7:07

Yeah, you know what? What I what I love about that story is it's so veteran-centric in the sense that your friend calls and says, Hey, I'm gonna do a hike, you want to come? And there's no questions asked. It's just yeah, okay, I'll come. Whereas a lot of people who never serve don't trust their friends and people that they work with that much, would be asking a million questions. So I do love that story. That's so that's so typical of veterans. Yeah, I'm in, you know, okay, sure. Let's, you know, let's do it. So, listeners, I want to direct your attention to the web page, and it is irreverentwarriors.org. There's a ton of information on here. You can hit all their social media. Our listeners are used to veteran service organizations having a big red button up in the right corner for donate. But with this organization, it's sort of in the middle. You you look you can't miss it, says donate. So please bang on that button and give what you can. The events that you guys sponsor, they're they're these silky, these hikes. And is it all year round, or is it mostly in the summer, or what are we looking at?

How Hikes Work Year Round

Kimberly Jewel Pond 8:22

So we try to space out because there's multiple cities that hold these hikes. Um, this year we're scheduled to have 60 different hikes. Um, we try to spread them out throughout the year. So we had one up in St. Louis in January. February, we had Pierto Rico in Florida. Um, March, we have we're starting to really ramp up um to where I think there's a hike coming up this first weekend of March. Um, there's three hikes on the 28th of March, depending on where at in the country you are. Um, one of them is actually DC. Um, it's our night hike. Um, so it really just depends on where you're at. Um, every city, with the exception of DC, holds one Silky's hike, and that is our flagship program that we do. DC holds two. So we do a night hike, which is the one in March, and then we do one during the day, which we have scheduled for later this year in November. Um, aside from the flagship hikes, depending on the city and the community where you're at, we host other events to bring you out into the community. Um, we have some communities where they have more access to equine therapy, so they'll go out to, you know, ride horses. Um, here in DC, we have a more community service-based community. And so we do, we volunteer with other VSOs to do wall cleanings in DC, um, like cleaning the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial. We partner with a couple other places. We partner with the VFW. They're one of our biggest sponsors to do events with the VFW. And we try to keep stuff going year-round, um, whether it's like raft trips, uh, community service opportunities. Um, sometimes we just throw out there on our Facebook page, hey, a group of us are getting together here. Let's meet up. And you'd be surprised at who comes out of the woodwork.

Larry Zilliox 10:26

Yeah. So when I go to the web page and I'm I'm looking at the events and I know a hike is coming up and I want to participate. Do I have to register or do I just show up or how does it work?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 10:38

So you can register ahead of time. Um, when you go to the website, there's a link. So you can go and you can find which city that you want to go to. Go to their hike page and register there. Um, if you just show up, we're gonna ask you to register on site. That way you're covered by our insurance um and we get an accurate headcount. Um, registration is really important for us to be able to plan our hikes because we provide hydration and snacks and lunch or dinner, depending on when your hike is and everything. So it really helps us be able to plan these events out for everyone.

Larry Zilliox 11:17

Skill level. Is it where how long are these hikes? So I, you know, I'm kind of thinking, I'm an older guy, I'm not I'm not up for a 40-mile walk. Um, what am I looking at when I think, oh, I want to go down and I want to, you know, join this one enrichment? Or what are we looking at?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 11:36

So any of the hike distances, they range either from five miles to 13 miles, depending on the city and the route. Um, but it's not like, okay, we're gonna be like really hoofing it. Um, we keep the pace at like a 2.3 to 2.5 mile per hour so that we can have people that are older or disabled can actually keep up with the element. Um, we like to keep everybody together. So it's more of a leisurely walk.

Registering And Choosing The Right Distance

Larry Zilliox 12:08

I'm up for that. I like the sound of that. That's basically describes my day. Um so well uh you know, I'm looking at some of the uh the information on the webpage, and uh there's a couple of things that jumped out at me, and I really uh was very curious and was hoping you could uh talk a little bit more about them. But the whole concept is let's get veterans out, let's get them out and together and doing something in the community, whether it's walking, whether it's doing volunteer work like for another VSO or something like that, but they're out, they're not isolating, which which we know is a precursor in in almost every case to a suicide. But um so I was looking at some of the statistics, which are really awesome. 57% of veterans reported their suicidal ideations fully stopped or were significantly improved after attending an IW event. Is it just the is it just the camaraderie and the event itself that that you know that results in those that kind of 57% reported reduction? Or are you are you is there some sort of program that's going along with this where somebody is talking to veterans about veteran suicide? Or you know, what accounts for that?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 13:37

For us, it is actually just the events and getting out and having that camaraderie. Um, I know all of the hikes that I've been to and the ones that I host, you know, we have first-time hikers that we really bring into the fold. And, you know, we let people know, hey, if you're walking next to somebody, talk, like introduce yourself. And, you know, it really becomes a family to where people are exchanging social media, exchanging phone numbers, emails, whatever it is. And people are naturally afterwards, hey, I had a great time. Let's meet up for coffee somewhere. You know, they're building those connections that they had while they were in the military. I know for me, I get multiple numbers, and a lot of people do this too. And I have a network of people that I reach out to periodically if I haven't heard from them that said, Hey, how's it going? You want to get together and do something. So it's just, it becomes like a buddy system of everybody checking in on everybody, which at the end of the day is going to prevent veteran suicide because you are feeling included in something and that people actually do care about you and your well-being.

Why Camaraderie Cuts Suicide Risk

Larry Zilliox 14:49

Well, yeah, I I just think it's a it's an amazing program. And one of the things that I I think is is just extraordinary is that it's so simple. It's it's not something that you know has to be funded with thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars just to put one event on. It's just it's it's just a very basic premise that really works. And I I I commend you all for that because you know, there's a lot of VSOs out there that struggle because they're trying to deliver services that veterans don't need or want. Um, they're trying to deliver, you know, high cost services and and and things that it's just they're not thinking it through. And you guys have a great program and a great premise, and the results are uh astounding. I I saw this one statistic here that um you know women veterans make up currently about 11, 11.3 percent of uh veterans, and forty percent of your participants are female, which is crazy. How how does how has that happened?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 16:06

Um that's been happening because we've created um a safe place for females to, you know, be hiking. We do have quite a few females that have, you know, dealt with MSTs that haven't felt included in the military community, but then they come to one of our events and they feel included and they feel safe. Um, you know, when we say that we've got I've got your back, we really do mean it. And it becomes a safe environment. And, you know, as more of us women go out and say, hey, you really need to come to this, and they see that it's a safe place, we're getting more and more of them coming out because, you know, we want to build our tribe too. It isn't all about the guys. We want to be able to have our tribe as well, and we can connect better with other female veterans because they've been through some of the same same things, you know, or very similar.

Larry Zilliox 17:05

So is there wow, you you have a tremendous audience there with that percentage of women veterans. Is there is there any program or anything, any way you can work towards convincing them uh to register with the VA, to to make claims and get the benefits that they're entitled to? Because 65% of women veterans don't they don't uh register, they don't seek out their benefits that they're entitled to, which is a tragedy. Also, we see a lot of women veterans that don't really identify, they don't identify as veterans in the sense that you know they're not wearing the ball caps, they don't they don't have the jackets on with all that kind of stuff. So they just blend into the community. And um uh even even when they're out at functions and people, you know, barely believe that they're a veteran or even consider them that they might be a veteran, it's just ridiculous. But do you have any sense of how VSOs such as yours or ours or any of them could work on getting more women veterans um into the VA system?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 18:19

Well, one of the things that we do um to help encourage that is all of the event, all of my events and the majority of all the events that I've been to, we have the vet center that comes out, sets up their, they have their mobile vet unit, or they'll set up a table and they will talk to um everybody, get their name, their information, and contact them outside of you know, the hike. And the vet center is free. The they will help them with their claims and talk them through what their benefits are and everything else, all for free. And, you know, connect them with someone that can help with that. Because honestly, as a female veteran who's applied for benefits, you know, it's pretty daunting. And, you know, I know when I started, I didn't feel like it was taken seriously. But there are, you know, we do work with closely with the vet center um to be able to help with that.

Women Veterans Safety And VA Access

Larry Zilliox 19:17

Well, there is a uh with the new Fredericksburg Seabach, there is a whole group down there just uh for women veterans, which is a step in the right direction for sure. Um when you think about the organization and how successful the events are, is there something is there something that you're not doing that you would build that you would like to see the organization do in the future?

Kimberly Jewel Pond 19:50

So what we are trying to do, um, and I think we're doing a pretty good job at it, but we would like to see more is um we're trying to start integrate different healing modalities and different resources for that, um, like cold plunging or, you know, like I said, some chapters are able to do equine therapy. There's been a couple of places where that I've looked into that, you know, we can do like cooking because some people just absolutely love to cook, and that is, you know, something that brings them peace. You know, so we're starting to introduce different healing modalities. We're having, you know, we're starting to put together more retreats. Um, so we have, you know, we have Operation Firewatch, which is our all-male retreat. We have Operation Phoenix, which is our all-female retreat. We also have another retreat that's co-ed and partnered with um Grunt Style Foundation. We do um their retreat as well. And what we try to do is make sure that we can offer those up to our communities as well as find, you know, different places within the community where they can go do cold plunge, they can go ride a horse, they can just do whatever, go hiking, you know, just giving them different modalities that they can reach out to versus reaching to drugs and alcohol and whatnot. And that's, you know, really what we're trying to do more of. And I would like, you know, as a whole, we want more of our communities to be leaning more towards that.

Healing Modalities Retreats And Final Ask

Larry Zilliox 21:26

Well, it it's it sounds amazing. Listeners, again, the webpage is irreverentwarriors.org. I want you to check it out, share the link, uh, check out the social media, friend of on Facebook, follow him on Instagram, donate, hit that donate button, and uh give what you can. Uh, it's an amazing organization. They do phenomenal work. Join, you know, go to one of these events. Uh, they're all over the country. You you'll see a map on the webpage. It'll show you where they all are. And they're they're all over. There's one, I'm not gonna say it's near you, but you could get to one, believe me. Well, uh, you know, Kimberly, I can't thank you enough for coming on and telling us all about the organization. Appreciate it.

Kimberly Jewel Pond 22:13

I appreciate you having a lot of time. having me on.

Larry Zilliox 22:15

Well, listeners, we'll have another episode next Monday morning at 0500. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can reach us at podcast at willingwarriors.org. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms. We're on YouTube and Wreaths Across America Radio. So until then, thanks for listening.